


Just For Us

by livefree_13



Category: Persona 4
Genre: Anal Fingering, Blindfolds, Caretaking, Dating, First Time, Fluff, Gap Moe Yu Narukami, Happy Ending, Kissing, M/M, Mild Angst, Morning Sex, Sickfic, Teasing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-05-26
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:14:27
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23379688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/livefree_13/pseuds/livefree_13
Summary: this is a collection of SFW & NSFW Sentence Starter Prompts that i have written and posted to tumblr.
Relationships: Hanamura Yosuke/Narukami Yu, Hanamura Yosuke/Persona 4 Protagonist, Hanamura Yosuke/Seta Souji
Comments: 67
Kudos: 145





	1. Dawn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Requested line: Do you live to arouse me?
> 
> because my good friend [treya_barton](https://archiveofourown.org/users/treya_barton/works) requested this line, i decided to make it a Pirate!Souyo story, based off her famous [Mutiny of the Heart](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16413074/chapters/38424314) series wherein Yosuke is the dreaded Captain Jiraiya and Yu is his trusty First Mate (and yes, they are in love).

Few words could describe what Captain Jiraiya felt as he gazed down at his first mate, fast asleep with his cheek warm against his shoulder. It was early yet – too early to bother his companion, certainly, but Yosuke couldn’t resist raising a hand and letting his fingers smooth a lock of Yu’s fair hair back from his softly rounded cheek. His face was a bit rosy in the low lamplight, only faintly telling of the two pirates’ activity hours ago aboard their shared cabin, and Yosuke smiled as his thumb stroked along the spots most colored by the heat. 

Of course, this stirred his first mate. He breathed in deeply and pressed his mouth into Yosuke’s skin, moaning by way of greeting. 

“Good morning, yourself,” Yosuke quipped, his voice still soft and low from the weight of sleep. “We’re awake much too early.” 

“I like early,” Yu murmured as he pressed yet more kisses against his shoulder, then began to move up his neck. 

Yosuke laughed faintly but didn’t attempt to stop him. His lips felt firm and warm, and Yosuke liked it when they were on his skin at any point in time. As their relationship intensified over the months since it started, Yosuke found the willpower to resist any of Yu’s wiles become incrementally harder to come by. 

Especially so now, in the quietude of their private quarters, as they lay awake and hidden from the world. Yu’s lips pressed with greedy insistence, yet with every bit of care needed to draw Yosuke further and further away from the temptation of sleep, from his impending list of duties, and from the world at large. 

Yu’s teeth expertly nibbled the strip of skin beneath his jaw and that’s when Yosuke knew he was done for – and when Yu’s leg fell between his, he let out a shuddering breath into the air. 

He felt Yu snicker into his skin and Yosuke felt his face go aflame. 

“See? Early is lovely,” he drawled, right before planting a light kiss to the little red splotch Yosuke assumed was now there. “My love . . .”

Yosuke let Yu’s name tumble from his lips, as the steady pull of arousal drew him ever closer, with his skin tingling and his lungs falling short of breath. The hand that once stroked Yu’s sleeping cheek now firmly held his leg in place between Yosuke’s own, pressed hotly against his erection. They were already completely nude and their skin folded flush together freely between thin covers and rendered the rest of Yosuke’s thoughts completely senseless. 

He sought Yu’s mouth and Yu sought his. Their tongues wound together only briefly before Yu pulled back with his face split by a mischievous smile, one that made Yosuke groan and press into him. 

He stared down into Yu’s eyes. “Do you live to arouse me?” He asked, bumping their noses.

_ “Only.” _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading :3


	2. Talk to Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Requested line: keep going, make my legs shake.
> 
> thanks for the prompt request [Yokaibytes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yokaibytes/pseuds/Yokaibytes)! this one was fun to write :)

Yosuke Hanamura didn’t know exactly what his day would be like when he woke up that morning. He expected it to be pretty great — Yu was in town for summer break, after all, and they were going to be hanging out together most of the day. But beyond “seeing your boyfriend” levels great, he really couldn’t have guessed what else awaited him. 

And if he’d had all the money in the world to bet, he _probably_ would not have bet much on “lying flat on his back on Yu’s futon, pants nowhere within reach, and his partner hovering over his thighs with slicked up hands”. 

All the same, that’s exactly where his day had led him. It was a Tuesday. He’d normally be taking math around this time (mid-morning), but instead he was here in Yu’s room, having another unbelievable sexual experience to add to his quickly growing collection. 

“It doesn’t hurt, does it?” Yu asked. He was naked and his voice was husky, and the sound of it all thick and low in his throat made Yosuke’s stomach whirl wonderfully.

He rolled his head from side to side. “No,” he slurred. 

He couldn’t really see what Yu was doing down there; his erection was just thick enough to hide most of his view of Yu’s hands. But he could _feel_ just fine, and the wet heat that Yu applied in the smallest, most delicate strokes his fingers could provide wrung him out to an absolute state of bliss. Yosuke was sweating and trembling where he lay, hanging onto every jolt of pleasure that Yu sent scattering throughout his body. 

The heat had already risen into his brain and they had only just started this exercise about 5 minutes ago. Yosuke was _supposed_ to be directing Yu; Yu had made it very clear that they needed to keep communicating, because they were new at this and wanted to make it special, and Yosuke had adamantly agreed. They’d been doing just that up to this point for months, at every step, from kissing to groping to sucking. But now that Yosuke was on the receiving end of something so totally alien and yet unspeakably arousing, he was at a loss for words. 

Just as another exquisite little wave was rolling through Yosuke’s stomach, Yu pulled his fingers out. 

Yosuke whined, pretty pitifully but he forgot to care. “What . . .”

“Sorry, I just, I need more. Hang on.” Yu sounded out of breath, and as Yosuke lifted his head, he spotted a gorgeous red stain over both of Yu’s cheeks and the bridge of his nose. Even his chest looked flushed and shiny with sweat. It _was_ hot up here, but Yosuke didn’t know if that could really be blamed on the old house. 

“Hurry,” Yosuke whispered, which surprised even himself. 

Yu didn’t look up from applying more lube to his hands as he chuckled. “Enjoying it that much, huh?” 

“Shut up.” 

He plopped his head back down on Yu’s pillow and waited impatiently for the next round. That started soon enough. His breath caught in his throat when Yu re-entered him and his legs jerked apart. Slowly, as the heat between his legs intensified and he let it consume him, he let his legs fall open wider, until he wasn’t trying to hold them up at all and they were spread as far apart as they’d ever been. 

He was a nimble guy, but not as lithe as he imagined the girls in pornos were. He’d never spread his legs this far apart, but it was worth it; Yu scooched between them a bit more, adjusting his angle. 

Suddenly, Yosuke felt Yu’s fingers twist inside of him, and the resulting smear of friction had him mewling and jolting from the pillow. 

“Is that good?” Yu asked, his eyes bright and interested. At this angle, Yosuke could see his partner’s cock beating between them. 

All he could think about was Yu’s hand, though, as it turned a little more and pressed, ever so gently, against a deep web of nerves inside of him that had his voice shuddering out and his knees shaking and falling boneless towards the futon. A current of pleasure flooded down his legs and into his toes, and Yosuke looked down to see them shaking and his heels rising up off the mattress. 

It wasn’t an orgasm — or maybe it had been. He couldn’t be sure. Nothing had ever _felt_ like that. Yosuke’s brain fizzled and died, yet his mouth opened to answer, “Yeah.” 

Yu was panting. He looked down at his hand then up into Yosuke’s eyes, as if surveying the damage. “I think I found your prostate.” 

Yosuke nodded, if vaguely. The sensation in his belly was hot and angry, and it begged to be stirred again. His cock was still hard and the spill of precum over his stomach couldn’t go unnoticed. 

“Talk to me,” Yu murmured, and then waited for him to. But Yosuke’s brain was still rebooting. “Yosuke—”

“—Keep going,” he instructed, sluggishly, his tongue thick in his mouth, and then he laid his head back down. “Make my legs shake.” 

“Shake, huh? Like before?”

“Just like before.” 

“You got it.” 

And Yu did. Again, and again, and again, and—

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope you enjoyed it!


	3. Two of Us

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> requested line: "you screamed the whole time, not sure if that’s good or bad." 
> 
> for [homework78](https://archiveofourown.org/users/homework78/works), an amazing writer and good friend.

While it was true that Yu Narukami had not considered the bustling city of Tokyo to be his “home” since he’d discovered life in the small town of Inaba, he was beginning to realize that his understanding of the word may have been . . . incomplete. 

To his credit, he hadn't imagined an event like Yosuke showing up at his parents’ high-rise apartment late on a _school night_ of all days would ever happen, or cause him to question what “home” could mean. Yet, here they both were, snuggled in his large bed in Tokyo, their breaths lifting fast from their chests as Yosuke’s arm draped over him, and Yu had rarely felt more at peace. 

The warm, weighted tingle in their limbs thrummed softly, made every touch to skin transcendent and sublime. Yu could feel Yosuke’s breath fill his lungs, the frantic pace of his heart, and this was always his favorite part — more even than being inside of him, than the electric kisses that got him ready faster than any movie or magazine ever had, more than the crescendo of sensations rippling over his skin. It was this: the tranquility in the afterwards, the high at the bottom of the ocean, holding someone he could give everything to, and had. 

All that was in Yu’s head was how comfortable he was. Their skin was sticky with sweat and Yosuke’s looked downright _golden_ against the low, yellow light in his bedroom. He looked perfect, Yu thought, as sated and euphoric as Yu had always dreamed their time together would be. 

Yu tipped his head down a pinch and pecked Yosuke’s nose with his lips. He was still trying to catch his breath, really, but Yosuke looked too cute to leave alone. 

Yosuke blinked his eyes open and almost immediately rolled them. He used his elbow to lift himself some, just enough to scoot over to Yu and give him a “proper” kiss, with lips and teeth, and Yu hummed happily into it, as always. 

When Yosuke had had enough of Yu’s lips, he bumped their noses and smiled, his large wet mouth a bit wicked to the untrained eye. “Good surprise, huh?” 

“I’ll say.” Yu leaned up for a soft, slow kiss. “You screamed the whole time . . . not sure if that’s good or bad,” he teased, lifting an eyebrow. 

Yosuke balked and dropped his head into the crook of Yu’s neck. When he lifted it, his face had regained its flush. “I wasn’t _screaming_ ,” he insisted, then his smile turned dark and sultry. He lowered down for a nip of Yu’s lips. “I had to take advantage of an empty house,” he said with a shrug. “We’ve never had an opportunity to bang like this before. I feel like we’re on a remote island or something.” 

Yu would have argued that the cramped confines of a Tokyo apartment compared to the sprawl of rural houses made Yosuke’s point laughably false, but then . . . Yu’s apartment _was_ pretty big. It was entirely possible that _no one_ had heard them. (He doubted it, though.)

Yu chuckled. “We’ll see about that in the morning.” 

He leaned up for another kiss, but Yosuke suddenly frowned and dropped his head. 

“Morning,” he groaned. 

Yu was silent for a few seconds at that, his fingers tentatively twirling a strand of Yosuke’s hair around his finger. His swallow sounded loud in the stillness between them. “. . . What time do you have to go back?” 

Yosuke sighed and lifted his head, then he kissed Yu again with a sorry look on his face. “Early. Pretty sure my parents would freak if I missed school. They think I’m at Kanji’s.”

Yu felt his stomach drop. “You shouldn’t lie to them, Yosuke.”

“I know.” He frowned again. “I just _really wanted to see you_.” As Yosuke rounded the sentence, Yu didn’t miss the sheen in his eyes, how it glistened against the light. Yosuke was biting the inside of his mouth. 

Yu got it. He did. 

“I know.” He hoped his voice sounded softer than it felt, burdened by the pang of loneliness he could already feel manifest in his stomach at Yosuke’s absence. “Remember though, I’ll be down this weekend.” 

“Yeah,” Yosuke smiled, his mouth pulled to one side. His face had instantly brightened. 

One glance into those round, optimistic eyes had Yu feeling it, too. “So no more midnight train rides until then.”

“Yeah,” Yosuke whispered, as he leaned down for another round. 

Yu raised his hand up to cup Yosuke’s cheek, to let his fingers card through Yosuke’s hair. He pressed their mouths together again, parted them, rolled them both over until Yosuke was pinned delightfully beneath him and the song in their hearts filled the room and for the second time that night, he brought Yosuke home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's a little bittersweet but thanks for sticking around :D


	4. Slowly

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> requested line: "oh, i've got a new trick i want to show you"
> 
> for my dear friend [Skye_Maxwell](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skye_Maxwell/works).

All his teenage life, Yu had been set up with the expectation that his first time with a girl would come after months and months of courting, that it would be sweet and tender and tentative, and that it would happen in the very smallest of steps, with lots of foreplay, etcetera. 

_Some_ of that had happened. The most noticeable difference was that he hadn’t ended up with a girl at all, but with Yosuke Hanamura, and there hadn’t been “months and months” of courting. More like . . . _one_ month, before they couldn’t keep their hands off each other. And foreplay was a treat, but they didn’t often spend the short, uninterrupted periods they had alone together taking each other apart inch by inch. Not that Yu didn’t find that idea appealing (he did, verymuch), but there was simply never enough _time_. 

And hormones, the thrill of a new, exciting relationship — these combined were a big reason they never waited for one of those long, romantic evenings to finally reveal itself. Their encounters always started innocently, with lots of kissing and gentle brushes of skin, but an urgency always overcame them, leaving them heaving and entwined on whatever they fell back on. 

But now they were getting a little older, a little more seasoned, and after suffering for 4 months over a long distance, they were at last approaching a point where demonstrating their love together could be done a bit more . . . carefully. 

Yosuke was visiting him during summer break, which (while it delayed Yu’s arrival in Inaba about a week) meant that the two of them had lots of opportunities to explore what that long-awaited notion of romance meant in the bedroom. Yu wasn’t surprised they’d started that search right away. Yosuke’s bag had been on Yu’s bedroom floor for perhaps two minutes before he’d pushed Yu, with all five fingers, back onto the bed and crawled over him. 

“Can’t wait until after dinner, huh?”

Yosuke covered Yu’s mouth with his own at once. Naturally, this quieted him, as he sank deeper and deeper into the trap of Yosuke’s resolve. He’d nearly forgotten what words were by the time Yosuke pulled away, panting and red-faced and ripping off his shirt. 

That alone was a special sight. They didn’t often see each other shirtless, even when intimate. It had happened, surely, but always briefly, and that was about as far as they’d gotten in terms of the layers shed during sex. Having Yosuke quickly and easily discarding the first piece of that barrier instantly did a number on Yu, whose heart beat furiously at the sight of his partner’s lean chest bathed in the pale light from his bedroom window. In the house they had all to themselves . . . 

Yosuke looked into Yu’s eyes as he placed his shirt beside them, then slowly lowered himself back down, not closing his eyes until the two of them were close enough to kiss — and did. Slow, wet, and deeply intoxicating. It found Yu’s hands on Yosuke’s hips, which gradually traveled down to the back of his thighs, and _cupped_. Yosuke exhaled into Yu’s mouth and shifted, bringing both his hands to either side of Yu’s jaw and tilting his head up, slightly, so that Yosuke could stick his tongue down as far as he could into Yu’s mouth. 

Yu was hard and hurting by the time Yosuke let go of him, and he was even still clothed. ( _This_ had definitely been one of the reasons they hadn’t gone slow, he reminded himself.) He watched, dumbfounded and too aroused to speak, as Yosuke’s fingers went to his own belt and began unbuckling it. He stared at Yu’s face the entire time, as if he couldn’t bear to miss his reactions. 

He un-threaded the belt through the loops and placed it aside, near his shirt, and immediately proceeded to work on his jean’s fly. Yu stared at Yosuke’s hands as they unzipped himself, folding back each flap of his pants, and then pushing them down until his thighs were revealed and Yosuke was left exposed in his black boxer briefs, his length clearly visible, jutting out beneath the fabric. 

Yu swallowed. 

Yosuke’s mouth stretched into a satisfied grin. “Like what you see, huh?” he whispered, just audible over their panting. 

Yu thought he said “yeah” in reply, but maybe that had only happened in his head. These moments were always so _fast_ between them, with so little planning or care, that watching Yosuke slowly undress himself was making Yu shake with expectation, with that dangerous urgency. 

Yosuke came over him again, low enough to brush noses. “Oh, I’ve got a new trick I want to show you.” 

“A trick?” Yu’s mind raced with what that could mean. 

“Yeah, here.” 

He raised himself back up, scooting down and grabbing Yu’s shirt on either side. As he pulled it up, Yu raised his arms to make way, but as the shirt came over his eyes, Yosuke let go. 

“There we go,” he said. He sounded satisfied, which worried Yu.

Yu squirmed to get it off the rest of the way, but it was a bit difficult laying down, and that’s when he heard Yosuke laugh above him.

Yu grunted. “T-this is your trick?!” 

“Mmmaybe,” he drawled.

Yu scoffed. He had been halfway to a question, but it quickly died on his tongue as Yosuke’s intent quickly presented itself. 

He realized, then, that he had a different sort of question to ask.

“. . . You want me blindfolded?”

There was a beat, in which Yu heard the mattress creak and felt Yosuke’s heat come over the top of him. The light behind his makeshift blindfold changed, dimmed as Yosuke blocked the early evening sunlight. Yu felt lips — full, yet featherlight against his own, a touch that had Yu reaching for more. 

“We can take it off, if you want,” Yosuke said lowly. 

Yu could feel Yosuke’s breath beating against his lips. He opened his mouth to it. 

“I just . . . kinda wanted to try something.” 

Yu tried to let that sink in. Yosuke was asking him for something he’d never asked for before, and Yu wanted to let the words drip through his mind slowly, one at a time, so that he could savor their meaning. He didn’t need to think about his answer; at this point, he would have _cried_ if Yosuke had told him it was all just a joke. He couldn’t see, couldn’t use his arms. All he could do was breathe, and taste, and feel. 

“Romantic . . .” Yu thought — or _said_ , evidently. 

Yosuke laughed, nothing but a small puff of air against Yu’s skin. Then, he leaned down to kiss him. 

Yu opened his mouth and begged for deep, for filling. Yosuke gave him half of that. He pulled away, their mouths still slick with an unfinished kiss, and already, Yu was testing the give in the shirt keeping his arms up and away from feeling Yosuke’s body. It was snug, but not so much that a few good tugs wouldn’t free him — and out of fear that it would, he quickly gave up.

Yosuke’s hair brushed his chest next, followed by the smooth, wet sensation of a tongue and a pair of lips trailing over his nipple. Yu gasped and arched into it, the hot flicking sensation over his sensitive skin. He said Yosuke’s name. 

And Yosuke demonstrated his answer, all evening long, with more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this got absolutely ridiculous
> 
> why am i allowed to keep doing this


	5. New, Wonderful Thing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> requested line: "you don't have to be so gentle with me"
> 
> for the wonderful, talented [tasogarenohane](https://twitter.com/tasogarenohane).
> 
> (i'm updating this one a bit sooner because i think i'm gonna have a busy day tomorrow ^-^;;;;;)

“You don’t have to be so gentle with me,” he said.

_Yu_ said, as Yosuke looked up from what his hands were doing, coated wet, between Yu’s spread and bare legs. 

“Huh?” Yosuke was having a bit of trouble hearing anything over the sound of his own breath, the forceful pounding of his own heart pumping all of this excited, nervous energy throughout him like a current through a taut wire. At first, it sounded like Yu was telling him to slow down. 

“You don’t have to be so gentle with me,” Yu repeated, this time with a softer tone, a smile, a sympathetic shake of his head. 

Yosuke blinked. He looked down at his hands again, how a few of his fingers were still pressed gently against Yu’s scrotum, which was smooth and already impressively tight, how a few of his other fingers were slowly circling the puckered flesh located much lower there. Still circling. 

They’d been circling for . . . several minutes. Yosuke swallowed. He let out a much-needed breath and deliberately relaxed his shoulders. 

“I’ve done this before, you know,” Yu coaxed, still kind and soft and encouraging, in just the sort of way Yosuke had come to expect (had come to need) from his partner. 

“I know,” Yosuke exhaled. His fingers were surprisingly calm, firm and warm against Yu’s skin, but the rest of him wasn’t. 

He assumed that applying all this lube would have prepared him, tearing off the little plastic seal and joking about the brand name, pouring it over the both of them and swearing through laughter when it got all over his sheets. And touching Yu’s skin — with this weird and distinctly sexual substance — it should have all prepared him for this. 

This was something Yu wanted. He’d hinted at it for months, then outright confessed it a week or so ago. _Yosuke_ wanted it, too. Once Yu put the idea in his head, Yosuke had thought relentlessly about it, dreamed in exquisite detail what he’d like to touch and see. He’d even gotten a boner in class thinking about it.

But his imagination had only been able to take him so far. He really didn’t . . . _know_ what he was doing, even though he and Yu had talked at length about it and even, well, _Googled_ it to appease Yosuke’s initial curiosity. Yu had been doing this alone for years, he reminded himself, so Yosuke had no excuse. 

No excuse — except that it was _them_. He and Yu, and this new, wonderful thing. Crudely speaking, “pushing in” felt a little like “pushing his luck”, and he was getting a little sick of that sentiment at this point. Yosuke was laughably inexperienced . . . what if? What if— 

“What are you afraid of?” Yu asked him.

Yosuke huffed. He let out a wry chuckle. 

The bed creaked loudly beneath them as Yu raised himself on one arm. The other arm — long, delicately muscular, dependable — reached out to stroke his fingers over Yosuke’s cheek. Never during all their time as friends did Yosuke ever think that Yu would be touching him in this way, even after the shaky confession and their first slow, shy kiss. That he could ever feel Yu’s fingers trace over his laugh lines, brush along his jaw and card lovingly through the short, shaved strands of hair on the nape of Yosuke’s neck. This was something people only ever got in stories. 

He studied Yu’s lips, how pale and kissable they looked, slightly parted like that, and Yu’s hand left the nape of Yosuke’s neck to smooth down his collarbone . . . his chest . . . over his stomach . . . past Yosuke’s cock to find his forearm instead. And then, Yosuke felt Yu’s decisive fingers curl around his arm, slide lower, igniting every inch of skin he touched on his way down to Yosuke’s fingers, still planted there. Still circling. 

Yosuke’s breath hitched as Yu guided one of Yosuke’s fingers inside of his body. So swiftly, easier than breathing, and suddenly Yosuke’s skin was surrounded _by_ Yu’s skin, in a way never before. He was warm and tight and wet, and _warm_ and _tight_ and _wet_ , and Yosuke was having trouble hearing over the sound of his own breath again. 

He ventured deeper, relishing in the immediate shot of arousal to his gut when Yu shut his eyes and tipped his head back, when his beautiful chest caught the beam of sunlight through Yosuke’s bedroom window. 

“Deeper,” Yu whispered, and Yosuke was no longer afraid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i rather enjoyed this one actually. :3 thank you for reading!


	6. Spring

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> requested line: "undress me" [but as a sick fic ;D]
> 
> this is a college!souyo story. yes they are established, yes they are roommates XD also, this one is 100% fluff! kissies only.

Yu had _almost_ made it out of winter, had _almost_ gotten to feel the first spring breeze brush over his face, when the inevitable happened: he got sick. 

He’d told himself it was just seasonal allergies — flowers were blooming, after all, and the bees were buzzing and the birds chirping and all the rest of it. But the fever he started running later that afternoon as he dragged himself back in from his part-time job was telling. He dreaded using the thermometer, but the thermometer it was, and the news wasn’t good. 

He groaned as he read the tiny digital screen that was blinking in alarm against a bright green backlight. 102.3. It couldn’t even be a _mild_ fever. It explained, though, why his skin felt like it was being grated against his cotton long-sleeve t-shirt, and why he felt like someone was pouring ice water down his spine. 

He threw the little device in disgust back into the first-aid kit, not even bothering to close the lid and put it up in the towel closet before trudging with bare feet down the hall and into the bedroom. He thought about changing into his much softer PJs but realized, quite suddenly, that he had absolutely no energy left to expend. He was cold, freezing in fact, but he unbuckled his belt and stripped out of his pants, barely getting them off before his knees were in the mattress and he was pulling the covers around himself like a cocoon.

_“Partner?” Yosuke asked him._

_They were sitting on the grass at the overlook, gazing between the fence posts and out over the small rural town of Inaba._

_Yu hummed in response and glanced at him. Yosuke was looking at him, brows furrowed, as if something was the matter. That was odd; they’d just had a wonderful conversation. Everything was peaceful and just as it should be. No murders, no school. Just them, laughing, sharing this time together as they sat on top of their entire world._

_“Yosuke . . . what’s wro—”_

_“Partner?”_

_Yu blinked._

_“Come on, wake up, partner,” Yosuke smiled tenderly at him, his beautiful eyes crinkling at the corners._

_Yu stared at him and tried to make sense of his words._

_“Time to wake up.”_

Waking up hurt. He breathed out, his hot face buried in rough cotton sheets, and tried to swallow. _That_ was painful. His throat rebelled and he coughed, but with no energy to bring his hands to his face to cover it out of instinct, he pushed his mouth into the sheets again to try and stifle it. 

“Oh, thank god,” he heard Yosuke say, and then, a sigh. “I was afraid you’d taken too much cold medicine.” 

He was no longer on the hill, as was instantly obvious. He was in the dimly lit room of his bedroom — _their_ bedroom. The room looked dark in the corners and askew, fuzzy, as if it were trying to be a dream itself. He was on the wrong side of the bed. 

“Hey,” he heard Yosuke say again, and finally, Yu moved his head an inch to see the real Yosuke sitting on the bed with him, with a hand on Yu’s hip and another reaching up to brush his hair out of his eyes. “Do you need to go to the doctor?” 

_‘Doctor’_ , Yu thought, because Yosuke knew Yu hated the words “emergency room”. 

He was always keeping his promises. 

Yu went to answer but coughed instead. This time, he was at least able to bring a hand up to shield the room from his mouth, albeit lazily. “Mngmgnm,” he replied. 

“Hmmm, that’s not a language I’m familiar with,” Yosuke joked. His voice was soft and felt like cool water over his face, something Yu wouldn’t mind having right about now. “You are running a fever, though; I’ll go get the thermometer.” 

Yosuke stood up and Yu felt words that had been lodged in his throat force their way out, folding heavily over his tongue. “1 — 102.” 

Yosuke stopped and looked questioningly at him. “102? Your temperature? What, you checked it earlier?” 

Yu grunted in confirmation. 

“Well, I’m gonna get it anyway, just to make sure it hasn’t gotten any higher. Be right back.” 

Yosuke rushed out of the room before Yu could complain about it. The air in their Tokyo bedroom went still and the weight in his lungs felt like it was spreading into his arms and legs. Yu laid there, with nowhere else to go, and escaped back into his dream. 

_They were kissing on top of the overlook this time, with the high breeze blowing through their hair and down their collars. Yosuke’s lips were like the flowers dotting this plane of grass they were lying on, pink and open, and Yu plucked at them, over and over, like delicate strings._

_Yosuke shivered and pulled himself closer to Yu, and Yu tipped Yosuke’s chin up with a thumb and forefinger, caressing his clean cut jaw and memorizing its curve. His partner moaned a little, a sound as fair as the sky and just as enthralling. He dove into Yosuke’s mouth with a moan of his own._

Yu heard himself humming, groggily, as he became aware of the world around him again. The mattress was sagging where Yosuke was sitting on it, and the shift had felt like a mild earthquake for a minute there. 

“You still with me?” Yosuke chuckled. Yu heard the familiar beep of the digital thermometer as Yosuke turned it on. 

“I feel _worse_ ,” Yu whispered, a bit surprised that his voice was working. 

“You _look_ worse — and I was only out of the room for like two seconds!” 

Yosuke gingerly threaded the probe of the thermometer between Yu’s useless lips — the same useless lips he was kissing Dream Yosuke with a moment ago. Now they felt ugly and chapped. While the thermometer did its thing, Yosuke smoothed his hand up and down the length of Yu’s arm. Yu didn’t have the heart to tell him it hurt a little, with how sensitive his skin was, but a part of him didn’t even care. He liked it when Yosuke touched him . . . 

Just like before, the thermometer beeped angrily at them and Yosuke retrieved it from Yu’s mouth, grimacing as he read the numbers on the screen. “103. Your fever _is_ getting worse. I wonder if you have the flu.” 

Yu groaned. He couldn’t afford the flu. The flu was much worse than just a head cold, and not only would it lay him up for longer, but he would feel terrible the entire time. He thought about his classes and his job, and how behind he was going to get, and how short on money he was going to be missing a bunch of days off work. He groaned again, even more pitifully. 

“Aw, it’s okay, partner. You know I’ll take care of you. I won’t leave the house unless I have to get medicine or food, and both of us are off the next two days anyway, right?”

Were they? Yu couldn’t recall that at the moment. His head felt heavy and his temples were pounding. “Yosuke, you don’t have to,” Yu coughed, then groaned when pain surged into his sinuses. 

Yosuke spat in disbelief. “Dude, you’re in no shape to take care of yourself. I can’t even imagine putting you on a train to the doctor all alone.” 

“. . . We’re going to the doctor?” 

“I’m getting ready to try and book an appointment now. For _tomorrow_ , though, so we have time.” He winked. “You should probably be tested for the flu just in case, don’t you think?” 

“Mm . . .” Yu supposed, yes. He would say the same to Yosuke were his partner just as ill. But Yu couldn’t get his mind to wrap around tomorrow, around the possibility of leaving this bed with the warm covers and Yosuke’s hands on him to sitting in an uncomfortable chair in an unfamiliar office. He was dreading it already. 

He felt trembly and cold, and his lungs were heaving, tiredly, like they would only take what they could get. 

“Hey,” Yosuke said softly. 

Yu peeked over at him, with throbbing eyes. 

“It’ll be okay, partner. I’ll make sure you feel better in no time.”

Yu allowed those words to wash over him. Yosuke was right. He was always keeping his promises, after all. Yu had almost forgotten to consider how different getting sick was these days to getting sick when he was still a teenager. Now, he had someone who loved him, and as bad as he felt, _this_ was better. 

“Thanks, Yosuke,” Yu whispered, and tried to smile. Yosuke’s smile in return was big enough for the both of them, thankfully. 

“Can I get you anything? Medicine? Something to drink?” 

Yu squirmed under the covers. He still wanted his PJs, if he were honest. This shirt was no more comfortable than it was before, especially now with his fever so high. He wanted pants and fluffy socks. “Could you . . .” 

“Hm?” Yosuke leaned in closer. His hand smoothed back Yu’s hair, tugging the flyaways that had stuck to his sweat-cooled face. “Anything you want, Yu.” 

“Could you undress me? A-and help me into pajamas?” 

Yosuke snickered, but even that sounded kind, somehow. “Of course I can. I figured you were already in them, actually.” 

“I was fee—” Yu paused to cough, “I was feeling too unwell to change earlier.” 

“I can imagine,” Yosuke bemoaned sympathetically. He scratched the back of Yu’s head affectionately and then stood up from the bed, walking around the foot of it towards their dresser. “You want your blue stripy kind?” 

“Yes, please,” Yu coughed again. “And socks, too.”

“Comin’ right up, partner.”

Once Yosuke got him dressed, he poured him some hot tea (which Yu only managed to sip at, though smelling it did do wonders), and sat with him on the bed as Yu coughed and sneezed into one tissue after another, reading him funny news stories and showing him cat videos. 

Yu was still dreading the doctor, but he knew that Yosuke would take care of him. And when he dreamed that night, he found that he didn’t have to go far as Inaba.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i also....... rather like this one........... caretaker partners alsjdf;ak


	7. Easy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Requested line: "Just close your eyes and kiss me." (SFW)
> 
> only kissing in this story, as well! i'm sorry that it took me so long to get to this one, but i am hoping it was worth the wait?

_Crap, not_ **_again_** _._

Yosuke’s eyes worriedly scanned Yu’s face for clues, even as his expression remained tense and anticipatory and his pulse continued to race. Yu’s mouth was _so_ close to his — so close that Yosuke could feel his own breath beat light and hot against his partner’s lips — yet Yu was sitting still, wide-eyed and completely frozen in place, like a sentence someone couldn’t quite get themselves to finish. 

Yosuke didn’t get it. So far, the day had been perfect. They’d made plans for a Sunday picnic and were sitting sprawled over a large blanket in the park. The weather forecast cleared its plans for a chance of spotty storms and had gifted the duo the most pristine sunny skies of early summer to indulge in together. The park wasn’t crowded, since the busiest Tokyo weekend events happened to be taking place elsewhere. They’d spent the time laughing and eating snacks and the boxed lunches Yu had prepared. Yu had worn a light and bright t-shirt, something that showed off his remarkable arms, and there had even been a breeze around to catch his bangs and expose even more of his devastating eyes to Yosuke’s poor, captivated heart. 

Yosuke didn’t think there would have been a single thing stopping a kiss now, certainly not like last time. Yosuke had chalked that up to sheer first-date nerves on Yu’s part, maybe on both their parts. But this was their _second_ date. A day-date in the middle of a beautiful park beneath a lonely tree. 

_What could be stopping Yu now_ , he thought, forcing down the swell of insecure thoughts that would have plagued him just short of a year ago. 

“What’s wrong?” Yosuke whispered into the stillness, staring longingly at Yu’s mouth. If Yu had been any farther away from him, he may not have heard Yosuke at all. 

Yu blinked, finally, and eased back some. Only then, did Yosuke catch the faint trembling in his chin as he swallowed. “S-sorry.” 

The words, “for what,” slipped out of Yosuke’s mouth, as he continued to search Yu’s face for answers. 

Despite everything, the bundle of horrible thoughts continued to expand inside of Yosuke’s chest, clenching his heart painfully. And because he couldn’t stop them, a series of unwelcome and repressed fears began surging through his mind, unrelenting in their cruelty and in total disregard of Yosuke’s usual logic. The vast majority of his thoughts in this surging river were cluttered bundles of debris — objects that would bruise and scrape upon impact, but would pass as quickly as they came: _we’re out in public_ ; _my breath stinks_ ; _I said something stupid_ ; _he’s not attracted to me_ ; _my face looks weird_ ; _I’m repulsive_ ; _my lips are chapped_ ; _I’m making him uncomfortable_ ; _he doesn’t think I’m ready_.

The most damaging thought, however, was like the water itself, and the brutal force driving its path: _this thing between us is all a mistake, and Yu has no idea how to tell me_.

“You’re . . .” Yu mumbled, his mouth small and nervous. 

Yosuke swallowed, and waited for the pit inside of his stomach to open up and devour the rest of him. 

“. . . _cute_.”

Yosuke blinked.

Yu had furrowed his eyes as he said it. “Cute.” As if the word itself was strange to say. 

“I’m what,” Yosuke said, meaning to ask it but failing to. 

“Sorry . . . that’s weird to say, huh?” Yu leaned away from Yosuke, directing his gaze down to a section of lush grass their blanket didn’t cover, off to the right. 

“No,” Yosuke said, a bit confused but considerably less afraid. “I mean, yeah, because it’s _me_ , but . . . I don’t mind. That you feel that way. And that you say it. L-like just now.” Yosuke could feel his face heat up as he finally put a lid on his rambling.

Yu glanced up into Yosuke’s eyes, the corner of his mouth tipped up into a cautious little smile. Yosuke had rarely seen Yu look so . . . vulnerable before. For once, Yosuke didn’t mind it.

With the river of negative thoughts finally starting to run dry, Yosuke felt his courage begin to return. “What I _do_ mind, though, is why you keep looking like you’re about to kiss me and then not going through with it.” 

Yu grumbled a bit and brought a hand up to rub the back of his neck. They were in the shade, so the dusty pink color rising into Yu’s cheeks couldn’t be because of the sun. 

“Um . . . that’s why,” Yu answered, quietly. 

Yosuke raised his eyebrows. “Come again?” 

“Because you’re _cute_ ,” Yu pressed, meeting Yosuke’s eyes. Yu was fiddling with a piece of grass. Yu _never_ fiddled. “I _try_ to kiss you, but I get caught up in the way you look at me, and then I start noticing your eyes and how nice they are, and then I realize that I’ve just been _staring_ at you and . . . and then I . . . I chicken out.” 

Yosuke stared at him in awe. 

“That’s weird, too, huh?” 

Yu’s plaintive smile looked so defeated, so heartbreaking, that Yosuke, as stunned as he was, leapt into action. 

“N-no, no it’s not weird.” He sat up from where he was leaning back on his hands and turned his body to face Yu. “That’s _not_ weird, that’s . . .” 

But Yu’s worried eyes looked so fair in the bright, dappled lighting above them, looked so imploring and sincere, that Yosuke forgot entirely what he was about to say. The small flush on Yu’s cheeks was the same flush he’d sported the night they’d confessed to each other, and the sight touched a place inside Yosuke’s heart that he hadn’t realized was so parched. That sort of described all of Yosuke’s feelings for his partner, though, when he thought about it. He hadn’t known that he _needed_ Yu until he met him. 

“I . . . can kinda see what you mean, actually.”

Yu looked comforted by that, although his blush still stained his cheeks.

Yosuke looked down and bit his lips before he opened his mouth again, already embarrassed about what he was going to say. “I still want you to kiss me, though,” he mumbled, glancing shyly into Yu’s eyes. 

Yu broke out into a real smile after that, even though it looked downright bashful. “Alright, I promise I won’t chicken out next time.” 

“Next time,” Yosuke huffed. “What about now?” 

Yu blinked, glancing around them confusedly. “But the moment passed.” 

“No it hasn’t!” he argued, incredulous.

Somehow, that didn’t seem to convince Yu. 

Yosuke sighed and laughed nervously. “Look,” he started, adjusting his angle on the blanket so that his back was straighter and his face was properly presented to that of his partner’s — and Yu, still looking a bit stunned, rushed to mirror him. “See? I’m ready. Just close your eyes and kiss me.”

Yu stared at Yosuke’s face and rubbed his palms over his bent knees, his fingers catching Yosuke’s since they were practically touching. He then looked down and threaded one of their hands together. Yosuke could see his chest rise and fall heavily. He wondered how fast his partner’s heart was going right now, thinking briefly of placing a hand over it so that he could count the beats. 

“Y-you sur-”

“ _Yu_.” 

Yu nodded and took a deep breath. 

“Don’t be nervous,” Yosuke said, gently, with a smile. “It’s just us. You _want_ to . . . right?” 

Yu’s face smoothed into a confident smile. “Yeah,” he said, and Yosuke could tell that he meant it. 

“Okay, then.” Yosuke took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Close your eyes.” 

Yu obeyed. His face was so open and trusting that Yosuke didn’t know how he refrained from rushing forward and kissing him on the spot. 

“Kiss me,” Yosuke whispered. The wind rustling the tree branches above them nearly drowned out his voice, but Yu heard him. He gave a tiny nod and began leaning forward. Yosuke, viewing his partner finally leaning in towards him, took the chance to study his pale eyelashes and smooth skin, his straight nose and small, pink mouth. Yosuke could smell his cologne, rich and intoxicating, pulling him in as their noses brushed until finally, their lips met. 

Neither one of them moved much, at first. Yu’s lips felt incredibly soft and pleasantly warm against his, and the only thought Yosuke had was how much he wanted to keep them there forever. He pressed in a little more a few seconds later, just so that he could expand the sensation of their connecting skin, so that he could feel the give in Yu’s lips and how they pulled against his. 

It was extremely chaste, the equivalent of taste-testing something new and strange. Still, a distinct tingle and warmth raced up Yosuke’s spine and washed over his skin. Yu’s fingers tightened around his own. 

When they finally broke apart, Yosuke attempted another kiss right away, bumping their noses and trying to find Yu’s mouth again. Yu beat him to it, and they continued for a long while, softly pulling their mouths apart and tasting, feeling, until the once innocent warmth grew and threatened to overwhelm them. 

“See,” Yosuke panted, as they separated for the last time. He rested their foreheads together. Yu’s blush had darkened and his lips were deep red and alluring. “That was easy.” 

“Yeah,” Yu agreed, smiling. 

“Good job, partner.” 

Yu laughed and squeezed Yosuke’s hand. “Thanks.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> picnic partners...............
> 
> thanks for reading!


End file.
